Pendle News Room

Cleaning work has been completed on walkways around Nelson’s bus and train stations and on Colne high street to rid the pavements of the unsightly stains.
Banners have also been put up around Nelson Bus Station and promotional stickers placed on bins to reinforce the message to the public to put their gum in the bin and keep the streets clean.
 
Pendle Borough Council was one of 44 councils in Britain to get a share of £1.25 million this summer to help tackle the gum problem in our towns.

The Chewing Gum Task Force grant scheme is being run by Keep Britain Tidy to clean gum off pavements and stop it being dropped in the first place.  

The annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7 million and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, a staggering 87% of England’s streets are stained with gum.  

Council Leader, Councillor Nadeem Ahmed, said:
“Pendle has been granted £20,000 to remove the blight of chewing gum stains from our streets and to educate our community about finding a nearby bin to dispose of their gum responsibly.

“Don’t forget that dropping gum is the same as dropping litter – they are both environmental crimes,” he warned.

David Walker, Pendle Borough Council’s Environmental Services Manager explained:
“Gum littering is a criminal offence and we can issue on-the-spot penalties for littering of up to £150 to anyone ignoring our advice and still throwing gum on the floor.

“We know that most people in Pendle take pride in their areas, but there is a careless minority who are letting the side down.”

The newly cleaned areas will be surveyed in a couple of months’ time to check if the messages are getting through and the areas are still gum-free.

In the meantime, District Enforcement Officers will continue patrolling the areas to educate - and if needs be enforce -  against those that litter in our Borough.

“The grant funding has given us the chance to clean up unsightly gum littering areas and to remind people to please put their gum in the bin,” added David.